


the poles of promise

by snitchpuff



Series: see the boys of summer [2]
Category: NCT (Band), We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Space, Families of Choice, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Space Stations, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 05:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17277617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snitchpuff/pseuds/snitchpuff
Summary: “Another one?” Taeil asks, amused, as if it isn’t obvious.Johnny laughs and throws an arm around Taeyong. “Ty likes collecting things, hyung.”





	the poles of promise

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [I see the boys of summer](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/i-see-boys-summer) by Dylan Thomas. 
> 
> This is all Olivia's fault as she hooked me with the universe, then wouldn't write me the sequel, but said I could if I wanted, so here we are, my first kpop fic. 
> 
> Thank you O and Beth for listening to my whining and making the fic better!
> 
> This can be read alone I think, but I don't know why you wouldn't want to read the first one. Also, since the original fic is set in the We Go Up MV universe, stage names were used instead of real names. This has been continued in this fic.

 ———————

Taeyong feels the buzz of an incoming rocket in his bones seconds before the brightness heading straight for their space station lights up the sky.

“Another one?” Taeil asks, amused, as if it isn’t obvious. 

Johnny laughs and throws an arm around Taeyong. “Ty likes collecting things, hyung.”

Taeyong never meant to collect boys—wayward or not; he can remember when he was first launched into space and ended up here. He’d meant to fly a ship to find his parents, was even in the process of trying to get the space station to give him a ship, but then Johnny and Yuta and Taeil had shown up and he’d never left.

Instead, one by one, boys kept arriving, and the space station around them built itself out. Every time, Taeyong felt the new member of their pack before any of the others. Yuta and Johnny say it’s because he is the glue that keeps them together. Ten says it’s because Taeyong is their mom.

He doesn’t know why they keep showing up, but he enjoys it—his loud ruckus of a family. He wonders if this new rocket includes someone recently from earth, or from elsewhere. Not everyone shows up from earth.

“Who’s home? I know Ten isn’t,” Taeyong asks them; he should be better at keeping it all together, but he’s not. “We’ve got a little while before it lands, but having you, Johnny, Yuta, and Kun, Winwin, or Lucas would be good. We don’t know what language they’ll speak.”

“Kun went with Ten to get supplies,” Taeil says promptly. “They’ll be back next week. Winwin and Yuta are home, though.”

“Doyoung is in the kitchen,” Johnny says, “and Jaehyun is with him. Jungwoo and Lucas are around somewhere.”

“Let the others know what’s up and have Winwin and Yuta join us?” Taeyong says, trying not to freak out when both Johnny and Taeil nod and go silent. He knows they’re reaching out, both with the twin ability to communicate with their minds. He's just a strong empath, able to feel emotions and try to help people with them. It’s why he always knows when a new one is going to join them.

Taeyong looks up and watches the brightness get closer.

———————

Like always, it takes the rocket ages to land.

Taeyong wishes he knew what makes the rockets go where they go, but he hasn’t found anything that tells him on the space station servers. Taeil says his rocket meandered forever before landing, but the space station it landed on didn’t feel right. He had the urge to get back into his rocket, like an itch he couldn’t scratch, and here he came. Johnny says his rocket just went around forever until it landed here; _A Tour of Space,_  he calls it with a grin.

When Taeyong pouts at him, worried about how long Johnny was alone, Johnny grins and presses a kiss to his lips. “I'm here now, Ty,” he always says.

“Where do you think it came from, hyung?” Jungwoo asks now, eyes bright. He and Lucas never lived on earth, born from some of the first humans to make it into space. Even though he’s lived in space his whole life, Jungwoo is always full of wonder and excitement when they see a rocket.

“Who knows,” Yuta says, wrapped around Jungwoo. “It'd be amazing if it's from earth, though. The population is dwindling. Fewer and fewer kids are coming from there.”  
  
That somber thought sticks with Taeyong as the rocket finally makes it to landing. The brightness gets to be too much, and they all have to look away.  
  
When it dims, a rocket like all the rest sits on the dock. It's the eleventh one, although one rocket is missing—the one Ten and Kun took to get supplies. The wait settles over them; they all know the rocket won't open until it's ready.  
  
A few more minutes, and then the door pops open with a gasp of air. It's a boy, young—aged up and out, Taeyong thinks. Wide-eyed, the stranger takes in the tableau before him. Taeyong wonders what they look like to outsiders, a mess of boys arranged together. They left Doyoung and Jaehyun in the kitchen, but they like to show a united front. They cling to each other, the only boys in the world. A family; his family.  
  
“H-hi?” The boy says in English. They all wave automatically, trained to respond when they hear that word from Johnny and Lucas. Taeyong lets Johnny take the lead. He can't follow the words in English well, but he can follow the tone and the feeling. The boy is anxious and excited and possibly— _content_? That last emotion is hard to tease out.

When Johnny turns back to them, the boy says, “Hi, I'm Mark. I come from Seoul” in Korean.  
  
He can feel all of the boys from Korea perk up and stare. “Hi Mark!” he says, trying to regulate his emotions and block the extra excitement in his bones. It’s been so long since someone came from home.

“I'm Taeyong," he says. "You can call me hyung. Welcome to NCT.”  
  
———————

Thankfully, the boys have done this before; even though Taeyong can feel their excitement, all of them wanting to learn more about how earth is faring, where Mark came from, who he knows, he can also feel everyone holding back.  
  
Mark is just as fascinated with them, though. He asks for all of their stories, wanting to know how they ended up here and how NCT came to be, the space station building itself out for each one of them. Taeyong lets the others talk over each other; his boys all know his stories, anyway.

At least, he does until Mark says, “I left my six dongsaengs behind. The majority of them will come at once, all ‘00 line, but I hope they find us.” 

“Those who are fated almost always do,” Taeyong says quietly, and if he wasn’t used to being the de facto leader of this little band, the hush of respect the boys give him for half a second would scare him.

“I’m sure they’ll find us,” Johnny tells Mark. “Even if it takes them a while, they always do show up.”

“Yongie-hyung and Ten-hyung found each other again,” Winwin says from his perch in Yuta’s lap. God, they really are a clingy bunch. Taeyong hopes Mark doesn’t mind skinship.

Ten is the only one who knew him on earth, who found him again. They weren’t sure if they would ever see each other again, and maybe Taeyong would have gone looking for him. But Ten showed up just a few days after his birthday.. He's a wanderer, though, likes to explore, and he's the best at getting deals when it comes to supplies, so he leaves the space station. He always comes back to Taeyong, though. Always.

“I didn’t mean to belittle it," Taeyong says aloud. “I just mean, those who are fated do seem to find each other. Lucas and Jungwoo are another example. Jungwoo showed up first and then Lucas a while after him.”

“I hope so,” Mark says, seemingly a little lost. Taeyong can feel the nostalgia rolling off him in waves, so he tries to project peace. He remembers how it felt, though: in the rocket by himself, on this space station, also by himself, so new. He'd moved to Seoul young in hope of debuting, before the world changed. Before he left earth, he spent a lot of time with Ten, and with other boys who haven’t appeared. He wonders sometimes if they’ll ever show up. He’s not heartbroken that they haven't, since no one was as dear to him as Ten, but sometimes he wonders where they are now. 

“Food time,” Doyoung announces, startling Taeyong as he brings in the food. He carries two plates with his hands and the rest with his mind.

“Show off!” Johnny says. “Jaehyun-ah, you could have helped!”

“He didn’t want it!” Jaehyun says, shrugging. He snaps his fingers and the candles on the table light.

“You don’t both have to show off,” Johnny sighs.

Mark laughs. “My boys are like that too.” He sobers quickly and Taeyong can feel him drift away a bit, remembering. For Mark’s sake, he hopes Mark’s boys find them. Taeyong can’t imagine what life would be like without his boys now, can’t imagine what it would have been like having them on earth and then coming into the unknown alone. He was only alone on NCT for a few weeks, when it was just his bedroom, a kitchen, the mess, and a lonely dock.

“Eat,” Taeyong says softly. “It’ll help.” 

“You'd better do what he says,” Johnny tells Mark. “Or he’ll get even worse at mothering you.”

Mark nods and then forces a smile. “Tell me more about NCT.”

The boys are quick to do as he requested.

———————

One of the things about being the de facto leader of this gang of boys is that they tend to force him to rest and not actually be in charge all the time. After dinner, most of the boys take Mark to see the room the space station made for him. Johnny and Yuta take Taeyong to bed.

“We should go with them,” Taeyong tries to say, but not at full force. If they’re leaving Johnny in charge, he’s not going anywhere but where Johnny wants him. 

“Nope, you’re ours tonight. You’ll see Mark in the morning,” Johnny says before kissing him softly.

When Johnny pulls away, Yuta kisses him too, just as soft. They don’t do this often, so it’s always special when Yuta joins them. “You don’t need to be around that much emotion for very long,” Yuta says pointedly.

Taeyong lets himself be pushed down onto the bed. He knows they’re right. Whenever someone new shows up when Ten isn’t here, especially from earth, they worry about him, want to distract him.

 The overload of strong emotions of transition always gets to him, reminds him of going through it himself. “You have flashbacks sometimes, Yongie-yah,” Taeil said once when he was with Taeyong for the night, “we’d get you to a doctor if we were still on earth.”

“We’ll just distract you with sex,” Ten said, and kissed him hard. So the boys continue to do so. He’s hasn't slept with all of them—some of them don’t want to join his bed and he would never push—but those who do, Johnny and Ten and Taeil, and Yuta on occasion, always make sure he’s distracted and relaxed.

———————

The next morning, Taeyong leaves Johnny and Yuta in his bed and makes it down to the mess. It seems quiet, and the mood is sleepy and mellow.

He’s surprised when he comes across Mark drinking coffee. “Good morning,” he says tentatively, trying to read the emotion in the room. But he can’t feel anything different, except for maybe excitement.

“Morning,” Mark says with a smile.

“How did you sleep?” Taeyong asks as the space station spits out tea for him, made just as he prefers.

“Well!” Mark answers, but he still seems far away. Taeyong watches as he pulls himself together. “Hyung… My power is… Well, you see,” Mark breathes. “I can dream walk. I can control it now, don't worry, I know better than to go into someone’s mind who doesn’t know about it, but last night! Last night, I was able to touch Haechan’s mind—he's one of my dongsaengs—and we talked a bit! It’s always confusing at first, but I managed to get him to see that it was real and give me an update on everyone! They’re doing well! They miss me, but things haven’t changed too much!” Mark keeps speaking, hands flying, excitement building, until he runs out of breath.

Taeyong finds himself smiling. Mark’s excitement is infectious, even for an empath. “That should make you rest easy, then.”

“I could do it to everyone,” Mark says wondrously. “I didn’t know if the distance—we are _so far away_ —but I could!” Mark sips his coffee and Taeyong sips his tea, both grinning stupidly at their cups and at each other.

He doesn’t want to break the moment, but he reaches out and grasps Mark's hand and squeezes. “I’m glad you can,” Taeyong says quietly, but with a smile; he really is glad Mark can reach his boys.  

“Hyung, this means you’ll have six more donsaengs!" Mark says a little anxiously. He takes a deep breath and continues, "I mean, if you’ll have us. I think I can help them get here, through the dreams.”

“That’s fine, Mark, Ty likes collecting boys,” Johnny says from the doorway, yawning. He shuffles in and gets himself coffee. Johnny pulls his chair up close enough to Taeyong, so that their arms brush. Taeyong feels sudden contentment radiating from Mark, and when he looks over Mark is smiling at them.

“They do seem to be coming out of my pockets,” Taeyong jokes. What’s six more boys. There are already so many of them.

“Tell me about them,” Taeyong asks Mark, as he gets up for more tea and food starts to appear—like it always does when three or more of them are seated. “If they’re already a part of NCT, I should know more about them.”

So Mark does, and Taeyong learns about his six donsaengs still on earth—their quirks and abilities, how they met, all the times they laughed together. Taeyong lets their lives become his own. With Mark’s enthusiasm, he doesn’t need to let himself wonder if they will come or not, he can just take it on fact.

After all, the space station can always hold more boys.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love.
> 
> You can also find me here on [twitter](https://twitter.com/snitchpuff)


End file.
